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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

New Home for a Great Organization

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) cut the
ribbon Monday on its new state-of-the-art health center in Providence. PPSNE relocated its Providence health center to 175 Broad Street to better meet the needs of the Rhode
Island community. The first Planned Parenthood health center opened in
Providence in 1932 and has proudly served the women and families of Rhode
Island for more than 80 years.

“We are thrilled to expand our services, community involvement
and educational programming in Rhode Island, and provide essential preventive
health care to more people than ever before,” said Mary
Bawza, Chief Operating Officer with PPSNE. “We are excited to grow in
Providence and serve the community well into the future. We are here for our
patients – no matter what.”

The new Providence health center location will provide a wide
range of preventive health care services in a convenient location close to
Interstate 95 and along public transportation routes. The health center is
located less than one mile away from the previous location. The new
state-of-the-art facility offers convenient, free and secure on-site parking.
For convenience, online, walk-in and same day appointments are available. PPSNE
will continue to extend the same high-quality, affordable reproductive health
care it provides to all of its patients in this new location.

“Our expert doctors and clinicians provide thousands of women
and men in Rhode Island high-quality health care each year,” said Danna Freedman-Shara, Providence Health Center Manager.
“This center was designed to improve patient experience. We saw our first
patients Monday afternoon and they were overjoyed with the new
health center.”

Last year, the PPSNE Providence health center served nearly
8,000 patients at its previous health center location, including more than
5,000 visits for contraception and 9,500 visits for STI tests. 61 percent of
our patients had low incomes, and 33 percent were uninsured.

“We know know that economic and reproductive rights and economic
and reproductive justice are inextricably intertwined,” said Rebecca Kislak, president of the Rhode Island Chapter
of the National Organization for Women (NOW). “Women absolutely need and deserve the ability to
decide if and when we want to welcome children into our families. It’s so
important. And that is why I am here, thank you, Planned Parenthood, for
opening this health center.”

Planned Parenthood is a trusted, local resource for convenient
and confidential services for women, men and young people, including STD/STI
testing, HIV testing and counseling, all FDA approved birth
control methods, pregnancy testing and counseling, emergency contraception and
more. We offer medical interpretation services for non-English speaking
patients; have a sliding fee scale based on one’s income and participate in
many insurance plans.

The Providence health center is open

Monday, 10am – 7pm

Tuesday, 8am – 5pm

Wednesday9am – 7pm

Thursday10am – 5:30pm

Friday8am– 4 pm

Saturday8am – 3pm

Steve Ahlquist is an award-winning journalist, writer, artist and
founding member of the Humanists of Rhode Island, a non-profit group dedicated
to reason, compassion, optimism, courage and action. The views expressed are
his own and not necessarily those of any organization of which he is a member. atomicsteve@gmail.com
and Twitter: @SteveAhlquist

Thought for the day

“To be clear: For a candidate to say he is ‘waiting for God to speak’ viz election results is to say he is waiting for God to anoint him the rightful victor. It is to say that there is no world in which God would will for a Democrat to win.”